Monogomy/Polygymy - Page 2

jakethebake · #11 10-30-2005, 03:03 PM

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For a more serious answer. . .

I suspect it had something to do with social stability. Certainly a woman wants one man so he protects her. Typically men would want more than one woman, but maybe it works better if it's one for one? I imagine if too few men had too many women the woman-less men would become unruly.

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Possibly, but doesn't this screw with natural selection? If there's polygomy then only the best are breeding, while the less-desireable are not. And the less-desireable are probably to wimpy and/or stupid to be too unruly if the others slap them upside the head for it.

jakethebake · #12 10-30-2005, 03:05 PM

I don't get why the female orgasm would favor monogomy? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

gamblore99 · #13 10-30-2005, 03:06 PM

Yes. Men are naturally polygamous, and woman monogomous. From an evolutionary perspective men do best this way, as having kids for them is a very low investment (some semen), whereas for woman it is a much bigger commitment of eggs (eggs are much larger than sperm), carrying the child to term, as well as taking care of the child after birth.
Of course the offspring whose father takes care of him is also more likely to survive, so there is a benefit for sticking around and taking care of the kids. This kind of leads some men to sleep around and have as many kids as possible, and some other guys to want to raise a family and make sure a few of his offspring do very well, with the former usually having more desireable traits (looks, atheletic ability, IQ). This kind of leads woman to want to fuck the bad boy, and then later want a responsible caring partner to help her raise the kids.
Of course its more complicated than this and there are a whole bunch of other factors, but that is the gist of it.

edited for grammer

trying2learn · #14 10-30-2005, 03:09 PM

i had a sociology class once that had an entire section devoted to the concept of reproduction roles. basically, the most natural way for a male to reproduce is to spread as much seed as possible. the most natural way for a female to reproduce is to nurture/raise the family. one lends itself to monogamy more than the other. it wasn't a popular theory amongst the females in the class.

gamblore99 · #15 10-30-2005, 03:09 PM

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don't know about that. It tends to be not natural for females of many species to be interested in sex outside of 'heat', but in humans it is normal. In fact, not sure any females outside of humans are capable of orgasm even. This indicates human evolution favoured women enjoying sex, and one possible reason is that this bound couples together, and based on this, evolution favoured the binding of couples to raise children.

There's a lot of assumption apparently built into this, but I'm concatenating a lot of argument and scientific hypothesis here...

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Other animals can definitely have orgasms. Sex is very primal and natural, it encourages animals to reproduce and would be selected for.

jakethebake · #16 10-30-2005, 03:10 PM

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i had a sociology class once that had an entire section devoted to the concept of reproduction roles. basically, the most natural way for a male to reproduce is to spread as much seed as possible. the most natural way for a female to reproduce is to nurture/raise the family. one lends itself to monogamy more than the other. it wasn't a popular theory amongst the females in the class.

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Popular or not, I think they all realize it's true.

diebitter · #17 10-30-2005, 03:16 PM

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Other animals can definitely have orgasms. Sex is very primal and natural, it encourages animals to reproduce and would be selected for.

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I did specifically say 'females' don't. Males of course do.

I think there's still debate about it. see this, for example.

diebitter · #18 10-30-2005, 03:17 PM

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I don't get why the female orgasm would favor monogomy? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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If they enjoy sex, they will do it more, and keep the man around. Or something like that.

jakethebake · #19 10-30-2005, 03:18 PM

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I don't get why the female orgasm would favor monogomy? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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If they enjoy sex, they will do it more, and keep the man around. Or something like that.

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Hmmmmmmmm... I'm not sure I'm buying that one but ok it's a theory.

diebitter · #20 10-30-2005, 03:21 PM

I haven't got time for going into it all, but human babies are vulnerable in the extreme (it's all to do with the large brain size needing them to be born super-premature compared to other species), and need more than 1 parent to care for them for the several years they take to become relatively independent (outside civilisation). A monogomous man would provide better for HER child better than a polygamous man, so evolutionary pressure is on monogamy.